January 25, 2008

On Identifying Spiritual Gifts

Mark Dever said a lot of things that stuck in my ribs last week over lunch. One of them is how much he detestsspiritual gift inventories. He said their whole focus is on what "I want to do" rather than serving in the true spirit of selflessness... helping where we're most needed. Now, I'm all for empowering people to thrive where they're gifted... but I'm inclined to agree with him.

If I may (and why not, it's my blog so of course I may) I'd like to express my agreement with Ben and Mark. And I'll add some reasons to their reasons to show why they are right. What they said is true. I have seen it most commonly in people who fancy themselves to have the gift of prophecy. On more than one occasion I have heard such a person say "well, I guess I just don't have the gift of mercy" after they have emotionally run over someone.

On a deeper level most spiritual gift inventories are just spiritualized versions of temperament tests. Actually, in their place I find temperament tests very helpful and recommend them as good helps for people seeking to identify their strengths, weaknesses and best ways of working with others.

If we could leave spiritual gift inventories on that level - as helpful but not determinative, then I would be fine. The trouble is, spiritual gift inventories are often accompanied with teaching that says that each one of us is given one particular gift by God and we must identify it and use it. Thus, spiritual gift inventories rise to the level of "thus saith the Lord." Others are frustrated that they haven't taken an inventory so they don't know how to serve.

And to drive the point a little deeper, the Bible is pretty fuzzy on identifying spiritual gifts. It is absolutely clear that we have spiritual gifts, but it is unclear on exactly how those gifts are defined and how to identify them. But I know this is heresy and is easily dismissed coming from little ol' me. So feel free to ignore my views, but I double dog dare you to listen to Leon Morris on this one. Yep, just think of me as the little pipsqueak whose big brother Leon is going to come take care of business. Keep reading to see what I mean.

Here's a section from Leon Morris's New Testament Theology on spiritual gifts (pp 78-79). The third paragraph speaks directly to the point I am raising here but I wanted to give you the first two for context.

Paul also speaks of certain "gifts" of the Spirit (charismata). Whereas the virtues we noticed in the preceding paragraph were expected to be present in all believers, the gifts were not. Every believer must have righteousness and peace, but not every believer will have, say, the gift of healing. It is the one Spirit who is at work, but there are "diversities of gifts" (I Cor. 12:4; cf in vv. 8-10). Paul likens the church to a body with many different members (I Cor. 12:12ff), and, though this refers to natural endowments, it also has its application to the spiritual gifts. And when he comes to his series o fquestions beginning "Are all apostles?" (I Cor. 12:29-30), the only possible answer in each case is "No!"

It is clear from the general tone of Paul's references to the gifts that the Corinthians valued them highly and that the exercise of these gifts gave a magnificent spontaneity to church life in Corinth. But Paul warns this church against being "puffed up" (I Cor 4:6 et al.); there may even have been some element of competition among the believers (My charisma is better than yours!). This may be the point of inserting the wonderful chapter on love (I Cor. 13) into the middle of the treatment of the gifts; it is apparently a way of pointing the Corinthians to a far better way than that of competing for spectacular evidences of the working of the Spirit. Paul does not minimize the gifts, indeed he tells the Corinthians to be "zealous" for them (I Cor. 14:1), and he prides himself on speaking in tongues more than all of them (I Cor. 14:18). But above all, the gifts must be used to edify (I Cor. 14:12, 26); they are given in order that believers be built up in their spiritual lives and thus are not to be used for personal gratification.

One curious feature of the gifts is that, despite the confident claims of many, it is difficult to discover precisely what they were. Take the list in I Corinthians 12:28. Although it is clear that the apostles were "sent"people , there is vigorous debate as to whether the term means a "missionary" generally or whether it sould be confined to the Twelve (with a few additions like Paul). It is impossible to be certain. Is a "prophet" someone like the great figures of the Old Testament? Or does he resemble rather the preacher in a modern church? We do not know. With "teachers" we feel that we are on safer ground, but are w? We know of people with a natural aptitude for teaching ("a born teacher"), and we know of people who are teachers because they ahve learnd to teach through a course of training. But what is a charisma for teaching? "Powers" (dynameis) apparently were miracles, but what what miracles were in in distinction from healing is not easy to see. And as for healing the expression is "gifts of healings" (both nouns are plural). does this mean that one person had a variety of healing gifts? Or that one could heal one kind of ailments and another another? Of antilempseis w can only say that it is connected in some way with helping, but what form of help required a special charisma? We do not know. There is a similar difficulty with kybernesieis, a word connected with steering (a kybernetes was a steersman on a ship). That is plain enough, but precisely what "steering" was done in the early church is a matter on which we have not information. As for "tongues," some see this as meaning an utterance in one of the world's recognized languages - a language that the speaker had not learned, while others hold that it means speaking unintelligible sounds. In view of the difficulties, it is a trifle mystifying that some interpret the gifts so confidently. It is not too much to say that not one of the gifts can be identified with complete confidence.

I want to reiterate a point. Neither Morris nor I are questioning whether the gifts are operative in the church, we are questioning how they operate. Also it is worth mentioning that there are those who see the gift lists in Scripture as representative, not exhaustive. In other words, there are other spiritual gifts operative in the body. This comports well with the story of Bezalel and Oholiab who are equipped by the Spirit of God in all kinds of crafts.

I would also point out that often God's greatest works are done through people operating in areas where they are not gifted. Think of Moses who is unable to speak being called to speak to Pharaoh. Think of frightened, hiding Gideon the mighty warrior. Think of ignorant and untrained fishermen doing the work of apostles.

As far as I am concerned there are three simple ways to understand how you are gifted. First of all, do you want to do something and enjoy doing it? This is not determinative especially in light of what I just wrote, but it is something to think of. We should always be willing to serve where called on - Ben Arment gives a great example in his post - he is called to preach, but when not preaching he serves in the nursery. But generally there is nothing wrong with serving in an area you want to serve in and enjoy doing - in I Timothy 3:1, desire is the first requisite for serving as an elder. Secondly, are you good at it. I would love to sing, but I am not good at it. Not that we need professionals in any given area, but the example of Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus 31ff show that God desires to use those who are excellent in their trades. Thirdly, does the body of Christ recognize your giftedness and desire to see you serve in an area?

And lastly I'm a big fan of trial and error. There is nothing that says you have to be locked into one area of service for life. Go through the three steps above and sometimes you will find your niche and can stay there for a long time, or a lifetime. But, if you try something and don't enjoy it, aren't good at it and don't receive the affirmation of the body, or some combination of those three - then move on with no sense of guilt.

7 Comments

I dunno, David... It seems like biblically-shakier ground to use 'serve where called upon' as a test for your gift. And I think you see the potential for that to come across as somewhat self-serving. Consider the pastor that says, "Hey you, come up here and serve in such & such role for the upcoming year... We need someone." Do we really ever see that example in scripture?

Btw, to cite God Himself calling Moses & Gideon aloud... (not to mention, equipping them with the gift of leadership) is a little different than Pastor Fred calling me to 'serve' in such & such role.

Btw, it also seems suspect that a gifted pastor/teacher would question whether others in his congregation are particularly 'gifted'.

And what I've written above does not discount our mandate to imitate God's self-sacrificial nature. Help where you can. Take on the very nature of a servant, as Christ modeled. Indeed we should. We must. But as surely as Christ stayed on-task while serving sacrificially, perhaps we also can readily serve sacrificially while staying on-task in our gifted area. Yes?

Eg. Colossians 4... "Tell Archippus: 'See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.'"

May I be so bold as to say that it is largely up to church leaders to call out the gifts in the people they shepherd. When our churches grow too large so that our pastoral staff doesn't know the people in the seats, then this kind of leadership in recognizing spiritual gifts will simply not occur.

That people have to determine their own gifts on an individual basis only goes to show how poor our community function in this country. A healthy church not only recognizes and nurtures the gifts of its congregants, it puts that responsibility at the core of what it does. Identifyiong gifts in others and encouraging them is one of the primary tasks of leaders. That we don't encourage that role in our leaders only leads to the kind of self-analysis that inevitably causes dissension.

I would also point out that often God's greatest works are done through people operating in areas where they are not gifted. Think of Moses who is unable to speak being called to speak to Pharaoh. Think of frightened, hiding Gideon the mighty warrior. Think of ignorant and untrained fishermen doing the work of apostles.

Isn't the point of those stories that God took someone without a natural gift and gave to them a spiritual gift? I couldn't agree more re spiritual gift inventories. And they too often conflate natural gifting with spiritual gifting. This culture demands easy boxed answers, where God seems to prefer mysterious answers that you gradually understand with time.

How can we go about identifying our gifts? Perhaps our shepherds, our friends, our coworkers who are similarly gifted can help identify them. But just because we don't know our gifts doesn't mean we can't function spiritually or must focus all of our effort on discovering them; being open to the leading of the Lord is a fine place to be.

You've brought up some important points and questions. I would like to add the following:
First of all, spiritual gift inventories are bogus because it's the Holy Spirit that reveals to the church the gifts of its members. In other words, you don't "figure" out your gift - it becomes apparent, not only to you, but to the church. When gifts are used outside the submission to eldership, they often become abusive and dictatorial.
Second, I am appalled by many today that lump all of these together. There are 4 distinct passages that list these gifts and two very different Greek words for our English word "gift" used in one of those passages (Eph. 4:11). The 4 or 5 gifts listed in Eph.4:11 (4 if you follow the Granville-Sharp rule of Greek) uses the word domata, not charisma. This word denotes more fof a ministry office. Just a few have those gifts and they absolutely must put into place by the eldership, not by themselves.
Third, in three of the passages, Romans 12:6-8; I Cor. 12:8-10; and, Eph. 4:11, we see a separate part of the Godhead giving the gifts. In the Romans passage it is God Himself; in the I Cor. passage it is the Holy Spirit; and in the Eph. passage it is Jesus Christ.

The only discussions and uses of spiritual gift inventories I've been involved with were only as starting points. The time spent completing them and talking about them was less than 3 hours versus a much greater time of prayer and self-study. This has been true even in a church where everyone was encouraged to participate in a special session/class on spiritual gifts and an inventory. I thought it was useful to learn about the types of gifts, see examples in one's own life, and help people think about being called to serve together.
While there might be more effective ways to learn about spiritual gifts -- an excellent point of debate -- , I don't see much to detest and in my limited experience have not seen them abused as a vehicle for "I want to do."

I've always been much more interested in thinking about how people can serve, which is others-focused, than figuring out what gifts someone has, which is much more self-focused. The point of spiritual gifts is that God enables people to serve, and those who serve in small ways (i.e. faithful in a little) will be enabled to serve in larger ways.

I:1 "Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which makes the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased."

I:6 "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men."

Although we can't limit God's sovereignty in using any means to accomplish his purposes, it doesn't also mean that he's still giving these extraordinary apostolic gifts to people today.

My thesis on this subject is that there is a connection between the present “signs and wonders” or the “tongues” movement and Deut. 28:49. Read more here: